


F is for Friends Who Do Things Together

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Holidays, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-02
Updated: 2011-11-02
Packaged: 2017-10-25 15:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/271694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wanted Emily to know that she could talk to him about anything.  He wasn’t going to be a selective friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	F is for Friends Who Do Things Together

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written in the Casus Aliquis Pravus universe, which has exploded over the last couple of days.

“Thanks for meeting me.” Emily smiled as Hotch rounded the corner. “I really appreciate it.”

“I can say a part of me was intrigued. And I'm actually in town so…what's the mission?”

“The mission is one item. I don’t mean a candelabra or a picture frame, Aaron Hotchner. I want you to buy something for the house.”

“What house?” he asked.

“Your house silly.” She replied.

“Emily, you tricked me.”

“But since it was done from a place of caring I don’t think you should be that upset with me.”

“Seriously?”

He gave her a skeptical look, which she met with a happy smile. Emily had a pretty smile and Hotch could admit, only to himself, that he was smitten by it. He was going to do whatever she asked him to. Aaron Hotchner was a sucker. A part of him felt that she must know that. Women always knew these things.

“May I ask a question?” Hotch stuck his hands in his pockets. It was the Tuesday before Christmas and Arlington, Virginia was cold.

“Ask away?”

“How do you even know that I have Ethan Allen money?’

“You live in a condo in Alexandria, Virginia. And if you don’t have the money you have a Visa card.”

“How do you know that?”

“You were married once.” She said. “All married men have Visa cards. Quit your stalling.” She took hold of his arm. “We’re going shopping, Aaron.”

He gave an exaggerated sigh but let her drag him into the store. Hotch was surprised by how many people were shopping for furniture and accessories this close to the holiday. They stood in the middle of the showroom floor.

“Shall I give you a pin, blindfold you, and spin you around?” Emily asked.

“No, I think you’ve done enough.”

“You're not really upset, are you Hotch? I know I'm overstepping a bit but…”

“Stop.” He took hold of her gloved hand. She wore a matching powder pink hat, scarf, and glove set with her black peacoat. It would come off soon since the store surely had to be 120 degrees. “I’ll pick something; I don’t mind.”

“You don’t have to pretend to be wrapped around my finger because I'm traumatized.”

 _I'm not pretending_ , he thought.

“You're a new friend. I guess now is a good time to let you in on one of the rules. One trick per year is yours for free.”

“You're too nice to me.” Emily replied.

“Probably. But its Tuesday so let’s pick something out, get some coffee, and then go home.”

Emily nodded. She slipped her arm in his and started walking around the showroom.

***

“So how does it feel?” Emily asked.

They were a block away from the Ethan Allen store in a great coffee shop called Arlington Arabica. It was one of Emily’s favorites.

“I saw a proctologist last year.” Hotch replied. “This was a similar experience.”

“Oh my God, Hotch!” she covered her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh too loud. “I don’t think it was that bad.”

“Everything was too…too much. It was too modern or too elegant or too rustic. And the prices were insane; I don’t even think my mother would pay $300 for a lamp. Nevermind…yes she would. I like the photo set I purchased but I think when I fully surrender to your whims you'll have to take me somewhere a little easier on my wallet.”

“I can understand that. IKEA is great; I did all my kids’ bedrooms in their furnishings.”

“Why don’t you tell me how you're doing?” Hotch asked. “What are your Christmas plans?”

From the Sunday after Thanksgiving when Hotch first visited her, he and Emily spoke on the phone once a week. It was always Sunday, whether he was in town or not. The conversations got longer each week but he knew that he and Emily Prentiss barely scratched the surface. He had a feeling that knowing her a decade would still just get him to the top layers. She was an amazing and intriguing woman.

“I'm taking the kids to New York. I think I mentioned that my parents have a condo there and always stay over for Christmas and New Year’s. We’re taking the train from Union Station on Thursday morning. Lauren and Leith are so excited; they love the train. And Declan pretty much thinks any train is the Hogwarts’ Express.”

“I think he and Jack are on the same wavelength.” Hotch replied.

“Sean called me a couple of weeks ago. He wants to come to New York and see the kids for the holiday. I wanted to say no but…he's their last connection to Ian, Aaron. I can't imagine that whatever Ian was into Sean wasn’t also up to his neck. Their family always called them the twins, born two days apart to twin sisters. I want to hate him, but he's family. I feel the same way about Ian.”

She said the last sentence so low Hotch had to struggle to hear her. Emily told them two weeks ago that she was not OK but that she would be. There was no timeline for that. First she had to actually comprehend everything that happened. Only after that could Emily reconcile it with everything she thought to be the truth. Finally, when that was done, she could start to move on. How long the process would take was immeasurable. It might never happen.

“Are you talking to anyone?” Hotch asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean are you talking to anyone about all of your thoughts and feelings?”

“I've had the same psychiatrist for almost 20 years, on and off. Her name is Dr. Rachel Howard and she recommended someone for this. I wasn’t comfortable talking to a stranger but I think she’s right about being too close to the situation and to me. I was just scared that someone might feel the need to report to the police about Ian. So Rachel said she would talk to Dr. Cipolla first about the situation.

“I've been seeing him once a week since early November. I’ll probably keep doing that for the next six months or so. Everyone keeps telling me not to have a timeline but by August I want to be back in school and my girls will be getting ready to start school. I don’t know if I’ll have time to visit a shrink once a week. At the same time I don’t want to rush myself.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Hotch said.

“I've never had a lot of patience.” Emily said. “I just want to be free; I want to be free from all of it. I have no idea if that’s ever going to happen. I loved Ian for eight years and in an instant it was shattered. And then he was dead.”

“Are you saying that you don’t love him anymore? I don’t mean to be intrusive but it seemed as if you loved him very much in the back of that SUV.”

“I don’t think I could ever say I don’t love Ian. He was my husband, my lover, and my friend. He's the father of my children. I just don’t know if our wonderful life together was a figment of my imagination. The last six months when we were separated…something had changed. I keep thinking that a person can't live a lie forever. So what was the lie; us or everything else?”

“There's truth in every lie, Emily.” Hotch replied.

“Just so you know,” she pointed at him. “You sound like a fortune cookie.”

Hotch laughed, his hand moving on top of hers on their tiny tabletop.

“How about you give me a bit of good news?” she suggested. “I think I deserve it.”

“I bought you a Christmas gift.” He said. “Honestly, I questioned whether it was appropriate or not…”

“If it isn’t then I'm inappropriate too. But the people who know me well already knew that. What did you get me?”

“Uh uh.” Hotch shook his head. He also took his hand off hers. It was starting to make him sweat. Clammy hands would've been a dead giveaway. “What’s the fun in that?”

“I don't know, but I have a feeling its better than the fun in my lack of patience.”

“We’ll exchange on New Year’s Eve. It'll be the next time we see each other.”

“Oh my God, you won't tell me and I have to wait an extra week to know. This better be epic.”

“Epic?” Hotch raised an eyebrow.

“Its something Declan has been saying lately. Epic seems to encompass everything from kinda cool to holy moly awesome. I'm just the mom…the code isn’t meant for me to understand. I like that one though.”

“Well it is epic.” He said.

“You're a tease, Aaron Hotchner.”

“I don’t think I've ever been accused of that in my life.”

“There's a first time for everything.”

Hotch smiled, looking at his watch. It was just after eight. She probably needed to get home to her kids.

“We should probably wrap this up.” He said. “It’s getting late. I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Actually, I had a co-worker who lives in Arlington drop me off. I had to go to the office today to work on things that have to be done by the end of the year. Do you mind giving me a ride?”

“Of course not.”

They left the coffeehouse and walked two and a half blocks to Hotch’s car. They didn’t talk very much; they didn’t need to. They’d just spent the past two hours talking and enjoying themselves. The silences between them were rarely uncomfortable. It didn’t matter if they were on the phone or if Hotch said something he felt he probably shouldn’t have.

He tried to make sure not to do that very often. Ian had only been dead for two months…the wounds were still open and ugly. They didn’t talk about him very much; he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. He wanted Emily to know that she could talk to him about anything. He wasn’t going to be a selective friend. At the same time, Hotch wasn’t sure how much he wanted to know.

“This is my truck.” He said.

“Oh, I love it.” Emily said as Hotch used keyless entry to unlock her door. Then he opened it and made sure she was in before closing the door. He walked over to the driver’s side. “Thank you for being a gentleman.”

“I don’t know any other way to be.” Hotch replied.

“You never told me about your Christmas plans.” She said smiling.

“That was on purpose.” He started the ignition, Tom Petty singing _Refugee_ on the local classic rock station.

“Why? You're not going to be alone are you? You can tell me the truth.”

“No, I won't be alone. It’s another family holiday where I get to break bread with my ex-wife and her loving, attentive new husband. I hope I don’t get indigestion.”

“You do it for Jack.” Emily replied.

“I absolutely do it for Jack. Plus Sam is like my family and his boys are still my nephews whether I'm married to Haley or not. These are the complications you face when you divorce a girl you’ve dated since high school. I’ll survive…I always do.”

“Well text me if you want to escape. I'm sure I’ll be doing a bit of it myself.”

“I won't be a bother to you while you're with your family.” Hotch said.

“Friends are never a bother, Hotch.”

“Can I be truthful?”

“That’s usually the way I like it.” Emily replied.

“I've never been good at making friends. While I try not to believe it’s an inherent fault in me, I'm not entirely prepared to say it isn’t.”

“Oh.”

It was all Emily said and nothing more. She actually didn’t say anything else for the next 20 minutes that it took Hotch to drive her home. Yes, he counted because this was their first uncomfortable silence. His mind raced to figure out if it was something he said or did. If there were only road signs warning ‘Awkward Silences Ahead’ Hotch could take the detour.

“I appreciate you meeting up with me tonight.” Emily said when he pulled up to her house. “I'm sorry for the deception.”

“Don’t worry about that…I had fun. Did I say something wrong though; you got quiet.”

“You don’t have to feel like we need to be friends, Aaron. I don’t feel like you owe me anything and I don’t want you feeling that way either.”

“I'm confused.” He said. “I wasn’t going to admit that but to hell with it, I'm too old to play cool. You don’t want to be friends?”

“No, I do. You just said you weren't good at making friends so I thought…”

“I'm not.” Hotch shook his head. “I suck. But I wasn’t saying that because I didn’t want to be friends with you, Emily. That definitely wasn’t what I meant. I was just trying to explain that I don’t honestly know what friends do because I've never had many. The few I've had were never women. I don’t want to paint myself as some dark and lonely figure…”

“You're not.” Emily said. “I'm going to text you to check in on Christmas. That way you won't have to feel as if you're interrupting something on my end. How about that?”

“OK.” Hotch smiled. “Have a good night.”

“You too.” Emily reached into her purse. She came out with a sprig of mistletoe. Holding it over Hotch’s head, she leaned to kiss his cheek. “Drive safely.”

“I will. Goodnight.”

He watched her walk up her driveway, onto her porch, and go into the house. It wasn’t until the door was closed behind her that Hotch drove off. Slipping his Bluetooth into his ear, Hotch pressed a number on his cell phone.

“Hey Aaron.” Sam said. “What's up?”

“There's a high probability that I have feelings for Emily Prentiss.”

“Oh, um…”

“Sam?”

“I pretty much figured that when you let her convince you to take her to kidnapping swap.” He said.

“I didn’t…I wasn’t…” Hotch sighed. “Nevermind, it doesn’t really matter. She's a widow and she has a lot of shit to shovel. I don’t want my feelings to get in her way.”

“You're pretty damn good at concealing your feelings.” Sam replied.

“There's something about Emily; I can't do that with her.”

“You think you should back off?”

“I don’t want to and I don’t think she wants me to. At the same time, she doesn’t have those feelings for me. I mean she might have a crush but…no, nevermind, she doesn’t have those feelings for me.”

Sam thought it was a good idea to put a little distance between them. They planned to see each other on New Year’s Eve. That was eleven days away. It would be good to spend those eleven days not seeing each other. At least then Hotch could figure out what he was feeling and what he was conveying when he and Emily were together.

“That’s a good idea, OK, I’ll do that. Thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for. I know this is probably going to be hard for the both of you. But I think you can have a great friendship.”

“Friendship.” Hotch repeated. “Yes, I want to be friends.”

“Good. Right now that’s all you need to focus on. Nothing else matters. I've seen you two together; Emily wants to be friends as well.”

Hotch nodded, ending the phone call. He needed to focus on being a good friend. And a good friend would never try to make something more out of what was happening right now. There was a little confusion and maybe a blurred line or two but Hotch wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire.

Friends were a good thing. Emily had lost one of her closest and Hotch needed a few more in his life. They could be so wonderful for each other without either doing something regretful or fleeting. He was sure of that so Hotch held onto it with both hands.

***


End file.
